Within the electronics and telecommunications industries, multiconductor cables are still widely employed to interconnect two pieces of electronic equipment. To accomplish such interconnection, the cable usually has each of its ends terminated by a connector designed to mate with a complementary connector on the piece of equipment to be connected to the cable. A large majority of the connectors employed to terminate the ends of a multiconductor cable are comprised of two rows of opposed contacts held in an insulative member, usually made of plastic or the like. Each contact in the connector typically has a first end adapted to mate with a corresponding contact of another connector, and a second end provided with a wire-piercing barb. Attachment of a wire to a corresponding one of the contacts of the connector is accomplished by ramming a wire against the barb on the contact until the barb pierces the wire to make an electrical connection with the metal conductor inside it.
In the past, successive pairs of wires have been attached to successive pairs of opposed contacts of a connector manually, or with the aid of bulky and expensive connector attachment machines. Recently, there was developed a more compact connector attachment apparatus described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,903,399, issued on Feb. 27, 1990, to K. H. Billingham et al., and assigned to AT&T (herein incorporated by reference). The Billingham et al. connector attachment apparatus comprises a base plate having a connector-carrying carriage slidably mounted to it for movement along a first axis. Lying on opposite sides of the carriage path is a separate one of a pair of ram assemblies, each having a knife blade movable to and from the carriage to ram a separate one of a pair of wires against a separate one of a pair of opposed contacts in the connector carried by the carriage. A wire guide is provided adjacent to each of the ram assemblies for guiding a separate one of pair of wires into alignment with the knife blade of the corresponding ram assembly. A carriage advancement mechanism is provided for advancing the carriage to align each of a successive pair of opposed contacts with a separate one of the ram assemblies.
The Billingham et al. connector attachment tool has proven extremely useful for attaching successive pairs of wires to successive pairs of opposed contacts of a wide variety of connectors. However, a problem may be incurred when using the Billingham et al. apparatus to attach successive pairs of wires to the contacts of a "miniature"-type data connector because the contacts within this type are made very thin, and the barbs made very small, in order to achieve very close spacing therebetween. As a result, the contacts often distort when the wires are rammed thereagainst during the wire-attachment process.
Thus, there is a need for a connector attachment apparatus which reduces the incidence of distortion of the connector contacts as successive pairs of wires are attached thereto.
With the miniature-type data connectors, another problem is often incurred in connection with attaching successive pairs of wires to successive pairs of the connector contacts. The relatively small size and bulk of the contacts within the miniature data connector makes it difficult for the barb on the contact to firmly engage a wire rammed thereagainst. For this reason, a strain relief, usually in the form of a bar of plastic or the like, is attached to the connector to overlie each row of contacts to maintain the wires attached to the contacts in the row in firm engagement therewith.
Presently, attachment of each of a pair of strain reliefs to the miniature-type data connector is accomplished separately and apart from attachment of the wires to the connector contacts. With present day connector attachment apparatus, the connector, with the wires attached thereto, must be removed from the attachment apparatus prior to attachment of the strain relief. In the process of handling the connector, one or more of the wires attached to the contacts often become detached before attachment of the strain relief can be perfected, necessitating re-attachment of the wire, which is inconvenient to say the least.
Thus, there is a need for a connector attachment apparatus for attaching successive pairs of wires to successive pairs of opposed contacts in a connector, as well as for attaching one or more strain reliefs to the connector, without the need to manually handle the connector between these two operations.